Another busy day of Pool matches in Uster saw the semi-finalists decided in all the competitions.
Check out the summaries below and full roundup after that …
Women’s Division ONE
England & France safely through : A third straight 3-0 win for top seeds England against a Spain side who were resting their top player was more than enough to see England top the pool and confirm their semi-final spot, while France completed their qualification – still without playing their #1 player – with a 3-0 win over Czechia.
Pool B : [3] Wales 3-0 [7] Scotland | [2] Belgium 2-1 [6] Switzerland
Wales hold off Scottish challenge, Belgium make it three : the winner of the Wales v Scotland match would determine who would reach the semis, and as Georgia Adderley pushed Tesni Murphy to the limit in the opening match the outcome looked in the balance. Tesni came through in four though, and Emily Whitlock and Lowri Roberts wrapped up the win and the last four spot.
Belgium finished top of the group after their third successive 2-1 win – today it was Nele then Tinne Gilis who put them 2-0 up before Celine Walser pulled on back for the horst, who must no battle to stave off relegation.
Men’s Division One
Pool A : [1] England 3-1 [5] Spain | [4] Wales (W1) 3-1 [8] Ireland
England survive scare as they and Wales reach the semis : When Iker Pajares had beaten Mohamed ElShorbagy and Ivan Perez held match ball against Tom Walsh, it looked like England could be in trouble. Walsh recovered to win, then Marwan ElShorbagy and Ben Smith won to give England the win at the top of the Pool. Wales’ 3-1 win over Ireland gave them the other qualifying spot.
Pool B : [3] Switzerland 4-0 [7] Czechia | [2] France 4-0 [6] Germany
France top the Pool, Swiss return to semis : France were first through to the semis as they despatched Czechia 4-0, although Baptiste Masotti was tested, winning 11-9 in the fifth against Yannik Omlor. A full strength Swiss side delighted the home crowd as they – led by Nicolas Mueller and Dimitri Steinmann on the Glass Court – made the semis for the second year in a row.
Division Two
Wins for the Men’s top three seeds in the morning matches meant they join Israel as the pool winners, ready for the afternoon’s quarter-finals.
Men’s Pools Round Three :
A : [1] Scotland 3-1 [9] Portugal, B : [2] Hungary 4-0 [10] Slovakia, C : [3] Belgium 4-0 Norway, D : [4] Sweden 4-0 [12] Austria
Quarter-Finals : Scotland 4-0 Denmark, Israel 3-1 Netherlands, Hungary 4-0 Poland, Belgium 2-2 Sweden (points countback)
Women’s Division Two :
Four more Pool A matches to see who goes through to the last four, while in Pool B Germany beat Poland to finish top as both qualify for the semis.
MOUTH-WATERING SEMI-FINALS AWAIT AT EUROPEAN TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS
There will be four mouth-watering Division 1 semi-finals at the 2024 ESF European Team Squash Championships in Zurich on Friday after the concluding pool matches all went with the seedings.
Although men’s top seeds and 43-time champions England finished top of Pool A as expected, their concluding encounter against Spain on Thursday was a somewhat rocky experience.
In the opening two rubbers, former world no.1 and world champion Mohamed ElShorbagy fell to a surprise 11-9 9-11 5-11 6-11 defeat to Iker Pajares and Tom Walsh was match ball down in a riveting five-setter against Ivan Perez which he eventually won 18-20 13-11 11-8 6-11 12-10. Marwan ElShorbagy and Ben Smith then completed the rescue act.
Pajares was delighted to beat a player he regards as “the best of all time” for the first time in his career. “At last, I can say I beat him at least once!” smiled the world no.20. “I just went for my shots. I could see my team-mate was leading on the side court so I pushed very hard for the team.”
Wins for Joel Makin, Emyr Evans and Elliott Morris gave Wales a 3-1 win over Ireland and secured second place in the same pool. They will face France in Friday’s semi after Les Bleus topped Pool B as expected with a 4-0 win over Germany.
That meant Switzerland were guaranteed second place in the pool even before their evening encounter with the Czech Republic, which they won 4-0. The host nation face England on Friday at noon and will be optimistic of going one stage further than their ETC bronze medal finish last year and at December’s WSF Men’s World Team Championship in New Zealand.
England’s women, meanwhile, finished top of Pool A with a perfect 9-0 record and head into a semi-final with Wales at 9.30am local time on Friday morning. The defending champions could afford the luxury of resting top string Gina Kennedy in beating Spain 3-0 through SJ Perry, Jasmine Hutton and Lucy Turmel.
France secured second spot in Pool A behind England with a routine 3-0 win over Czech Republic. In the semis, they will take on Pool A winners Belgium who made it three pool wins from three by overcoming Switzerland 2-1 – Nele Gilis making amends for her shock defeat against Wales on day one by calmly beating Cindy Merlo in three games.
Wales finished their Pool B campaign with a 3-0 win over Scotland and the runner-up spot, but no.1 Tesni Murphy had to come through a tough, entertaining battle with Georgia Adderley 11-6 4-11 11-3 13-11, before Emily Whitlock and Lowri Roberts finished the job.
Former world no.9 Murphy feels she is rediscovering her best form after a four-month injury break at the end of last year, during which she got married. “I was buzzing after the wedding,” she smiled. “I was so happy off court that I didn’t care about my squash results! It took me a while to find the right balance again. I’m building a nice life, so to be here is just extra fun and I am thriving in the team environment.”
Men’s Division 2 is already into the knockout stages. Bidding for an immediate promotion back into Europe’s top tier, Scotland’s men whitewashed Denmark in the quarter-finals to set up a semi-final with Israel, who beat the Netherlands 3-1.
Belgium won an incredibly tight quarter-final with Sweden which finished 2-2 in matches and 8-8 in games and went down to a points comparison, which the Belgians won 146-140! Their reward is a semi-final with Hungary, who beat Poland 4-0.
In women’s Division 2, Pool A winners Finland will meet Poland in Friday’s semi-finals at 0930, with the other semi will be at 1600 between Denmark and Germany. Whoever reaches the final will both be promoted to Division 1 for 2025.
